hollowknightfandomcom-20200223-history
Radiance
The Radiance is a higher being who created the moth tribe and ruled over parts of Hallownest before The Pale King arrived. She is described as a light similar to Essence, but much brighter still.Seer: "The folk of my tribe were born from a light. Light similar to Essence, similar to that powerful blade, though much brighter still. They were content to bask in that light and honoured it... for a time." She is also said to represent "nature".Bardoon: "Would it too challenge nature? It could perhaps defeat it." In her Dream Nail dialogue, the Radiance suggests that the Void is her ancient enemy and that she refuses to be consumed by it. After the Pale King arrived in Hallownest and expanded the minds of some species of bugs,White Palace lore tablet: "No blazing kin. Only one light shall shine against the dark. The Wyrm becomes beacon, minds expanded, to yield, to devote. " the moth tribe turned their backs on her and worshipped the Pale King instead.Seer: "But another light appeared in our world... A wyrm that took the form of a king. How fickle my ancestors must have been. They forsook the light that spawned them. Turned their backs to it... Forgot it even." The Radiance was almost entirely forgotten. However, traces of the Radiance's memory remained, and at a certain point, all of Hallownest began to dream of her.Seer: "And so this kingdom was born from that betrayal. But the memories of that ancient light still lingered, hush whispers of faith... Until all of Hallownest began to dream of that forgotten light." Most bugs resisted her memory, ultimately resulting in The InfectionDeveloper note: "However, the memory of Radiance lingered (eg the statue at Hallownest's crown) and soon she began to reappear in dreams and starting exerting influence. The King and the bugs of Hallownest resisted this memory/power and it started to manifest as the infection.". The Radiance offers unity to bugs but also a mind incapable of thought.Bardoon: "I resist the light's allure. Union it may offer, but also a mind bereft of thought... To instinct alone a bug is reduced..." She has the ability to leave bugs with broken mindsViolent Husk Hunter's Journal entry: "First they fell into deep slumber, then they awoke with broken minds," and can enslave their wills.Furious Vengefly Hunter's Journal entry: "The infection that passes from creature to creature grants strength and courage, but it also seems to enslave the will." The Pale King tried to stop the Infection by sealing the Radiance within The Hollow Knight, a Vessel that the Pale King thought to be without a mind and a will.Pale King: "No mind to think." "No will to break." However, the Hollow Knight was impure,White Lady: "Its supposed strength was ill-judged. It was tarnished by an idea instilled." leaving them susceptible to the Radiance's influence. Although sealed within the Hollow Knight, she was still able to influence bugs through their dreams. Eventually, her influence partially broke out of the Hollow Knight,Prologue cutscene reigniting the full power of the InfectionQuirrel: "This dead world has sprung to life. The creatures are riled up and the earth rumbles. The air is thick." and prompting the Knight to return to Hallownest.Dreamers: "What compels its climb out of the darkness? What compels its return to this sacred kingdom? A call from beyond the Seals? By the Vessel, or by that captive light?" During the events of the game, the Radiance tries on multiple occasions to kill the Knight directly, such as by instructing Myla to kill them,Myla Dream Nail dialogue: "... how much longer... KILL IT... how much longer... DANGEROUS... how much longer... KILL IT... how much longer... KILL THE EMPTY ONE..." and using the body of Broken Vessel and those of the Watcher Knights as puppets. The Radiance is able to sense the Knight's progress as well, and will infect the Forgotten Crossroads when one of the Dreamer seals break or Broken Vessel has been killed and the Monarch Wings have been acquired. In two of the endings (The Hollow Knight and Sealed Siblings) of the game, the Knight can seal the Radiance within themself, replacing the Hollow Knight. In the other endings (Dream no More and Embrace the Void), the Knight fights the Radiance in the dream realm and eventually consumes or kills her after having unified the Void.Void Heart description: "Unifies the void under the bearer's will." Behaviour and Tactics Attacks Phase Breakdown Charm Sets The Radiance is the true final boss of Hollow Knight. To access her, the player must have acquired Void Heart and have used the Dream Nail on The Hollow Knight when Hornet holds them down. The Radiance does not count as a dream battle, so The Hollow Knight will need to be fought from the beginning on every death. In the first phase of the fight, she levitates slightly above the floor. Only her body is vulnerable to attack, which requires jumping or ranged attacks. She will often teleport around, making it even harder to get a good string of hits while avoiding her own ruthless attacks. The Radiance does not deal contact damage; however, all of her attacks except summoning spikes will deal two masks damage upon hit. Falling off the platform will also only do one mask of damage. =Absolute Radiance= Absolute Radiance is the final boss in the Pantheon of Hallownest. She looks identical to the standard Radiance but has a bigger ring of light behind her. Her attacks are also almost identical, but Absolute Radiance's attacks come at a much faster pace. She also has an altered final phase. Defeating her will give either of two new endings. Behaviour and Tactics Absolute Radiance's fight contains the following attacks with any modifications stated: * Beam Burst: Near instantaneous sets of beams fired back to back. * Sword Burst: Now summons two sets of swords instead of just one. * Sword Rain: Swords come at quicker intervals and faster speeds. * Sword Wall: Swords travel fast enough to be jumped over instead of needing to dash. * Wall of Light: Absolute Radiance spends a very short period of time idle while the wall is summoned and can quickly perform another attack as soon as the wall reaches halfway point of the arena. * Orb: The colour of the orbs is much more yellow, they are much faster and take much tighter turns to home in onto the Knight. Absolute Radiance summons these about half a second apart which can lead to multiple crowding the screen. She summons up to 4 of these orbs. * Spike Floor No changes. * Big Beam The beam is slightly thinner and only flashes for a few milliseconds before fading instead of lingering. The beams also come at faster intervals with each beam starting just as the last one ends. * Orb Barrage The only new attack features slower orbs but are constantly fired as soon as one fades. These orbs behave much more like Standard Radiance's orbs and will disappear if lead off-screen. This attack only happens in Phase 6. Phase 6 Absolute Radiance's new phase happens only on two small platforms that must be navigated between to score hits. During this phase Absolute Radiance will only use the Orb Barrage attack; she will pause for a second to summon one Orb and then teleport to another portion of the screen to summon another one and the process is repeated. For this phase, it is best to focus on dodging the orbs and only attack Absolute Radiance if she teleports within reach. Although she can only teleport between three locations (left, right and centre), it is hard to predict her exact patterns and chasing her is fruitless as it will usually cause the Knight to run into an Orb. After all her health has been depleted she will teleport to the middle position and continue to spawn orbs while staying stationary. However, she still requires another additional hit from the Nail to finish the fight. Achievements Defeat the Radiance and consume the light }} Ascend the Pantheon of Hallownest and take your place at its peak }} Trivia * There is a statue of The Radiance at the top of the map in Hallownest's Crown where a Pale Ore can be found. Dream Nailing this statue will yield the lines: :"...Remember... Light..." * Through HUD manipulation, The Radiance is shown to actually have 3000 health, though the "fight" portion of the battle ends when she reaches 1300 health, effectively requiring the player to only have to deal 1700 damage to win the fight. * Along with Nightmare King Grimm, The Radiance is one of the only bosses that has a fullscreen title card. * The Radiance is confirmed to be female from developer commentary on Slack, as well as from developer notes regarding the Seer: :The moth tribe were (perhaps) descended from Radiance. However, the King convinced them somehow to seal Radiance away. I guess so he could rule Hallownest with his singular vision, as a monarch/god with no other gods. The moths sealed Radiance away by forgetting about her. Hallownest was born and flourished. However, the memory of Radiance lingered (eg the statue at Hallownest's crown) and soon she began to reappear in dreams and starting exerting influence. The King and the bugs of Hallownest resisted this memory/power and it started to manifest as the infection. Thus the first attempt to seal Radiance failed, and the King had to try another method - the Vessel. * The Radiance is one of the two bosses, excluding statues in the Hall of Gods, that must be challenged to a battle, the other being the Mantis Lords. While the Mantis Lords will have to be challenged every time, the Radiance's intro is abridged after the first time fighting it, causing her to attack directly upon entering her arena. * The Absolute Radiance has no proper Hunter's Journal entry. Defeating her unlocks instead the Radiance's entry if it was not already unlocked. * The Radiance fight is one of four fights in the game where an NPC aids the player; the other three are Traitor Lord with Cloth, The Hollow Knight with Hornet and Uumuu with the aid of Quirrel. * The Design of The Radiance appears to be based off a Silkworm Moth. * The Radiance being called "Light" could be a reference to real moths, as they are attracted to light sources. * Upon the ending sequence with Radiance's defeat The Knight breaks open their shell and reveals the Lord of Shades within. * Defeating The Absolute Radiance is not necessary to unlock her in the Hall of Gods. References ru:Лучезарность es:El_Destello Category:Enemies of Hallownest Category:Bosses of Hallownest